Sue & Steve's EU Adventures

Saturday 31st August 2013

Moving day today, although we did consider staying put as the rain was raining and the wind was blowing when we got up but the new site was booked and only sixty miles or so north so when the rain eased a bit we got on our way. The route from the Brora site was almost entirely on the A9, what a great road for a drive, steep in places but always with great views. As we drove further north the harder the wind blew, nothing we could not handle but noticeably there.

On arrival at the Dunnet Bay site we were instructed to set up with our nose or tail facing west, where the wind was coming from (the site staff had already had to turn a van into the wind to prevent it being bowled over) and to promise not to attempt to erect an awning until at least Monday by which time the wind would have moderated, but as we sit here snug as bugs watching a re-run of “Lewis” the van is rocking and rolling in the howling wind.

Sunday 1st September 2013

For the first time since we left Essex five weeks ago the rain has rained all night while the wind has relentlessly tried to flip the van, not that it was in any way strong enough but is obviously enjoying bossing people around. The rain and wind has continued through the day but undeterred we went for a drive out to Dunnet Head (the most northerly point on mainland UK) this afternoon. I’m sure it is very nice, but we were far to busy trying to remain upright and hang onto our specs in the ferocious wind to enjoy it very much so, we went on to John o’Groats to enquire about the ferry, Pentland Venture, to The Orkney Isles. We were able to see the ferry tied up in the harbour because it was cancelled this morning and it’s already cancelled tomorrow because of those same winds, which we are told will calm down by Tuesday.

Monday 2nd September 2013

Rained all night, wind moderated a bit, but not much. Rained virtually all day.

Tuesday 3rd September 2013

We woke up this morning and it’s not raining! It still looks cloudy and grey but it’s definitely not raining.

We re-traced our Sunday steps to Dunnet Head today, what a difference without the strong wind and horizontal rain, it is quite stunning looking out over the Pentland Firth to the Orkney Islands seeing the top of the Old Man of Hoy, and into Scapa Flow from a point where the views goes on for miles right around 360 degrees of the compass. Having to do some shopping after lunch we set off to Thurso, the nearest town but after a mile or two took a detour to follow a sign that tantalizingly pointed to a “Heritage Harbour”, just a short way away was the smallest, most idyllic harbour you could imagine. Built when a company started quarrying slabs from the foreshore it boasts just a farm adjacent and a few small small fishing boats. We had a grand chat to a family living in Northern Ireland (well some of them were) who were hoping to adopt our life style in a year or two - in fact we spent so long chatting we almost missed the butcher.

Wednesday 4th September 2013

Up at sparrow f**rt this morning, well 7.00 o’clock anyway, and off to John O’Groats to catch the JOGFerry to the Orkney Islands for a day excursion that included return ferry fare and coach tour round the sights of the islands. The ferry was small (despite recently having had an extra 6.4m ((21feet) added to it) and, from the evidence this morning, a still day with a fairly smooth sea, must rock and roll in an absolutely horrible manner with any sort of a sea running. The Pentland Firth is known for the strength of the tides and when we crossed in the morning the tide, which can in places run at up to 16 knots (thats 18.4 mph in real money), our mid tide route was dictated by the tide rather than the skipper, the water was black and very swirly with a lot of what looked like whirlpools, very exciting! On arriving on South Ronaldsay we found nothing more than the landing stage, toilets, a car park with four coaches and a narrow road snaking across the countryside, there was nothing else.

Boarding our coach we were delighted to discover our driver was Stewart - according to Tripadvisor he was a very knowledgable and chatty driver who gives good value. As we progressed Stewart gave us a history of the Churchill Barriers, built by Italian POW’s during the second world war after a U-boat, U-47, sneaked through the blockships sunk during the first world war to protect the eastern side of Scapa Flow and sunk the battleship HMS Royal Oak. They connect a series of islands from Mainland southwards to South Ronaldsay. Not completed until just after the war ended their primary use is as causeways linking five islands together. The linking of the islands in this way prevented the local fishermen from reaching the rich fishing grounds of the north sea so, ATS (according to Stewart) they went into egg production and by 1957 73 million eggs were being produced each year. Unfortunately a great storm hit and the chickens were blown away by the storm towards Norway (this is also, ATS, why the Norwegians invented continental quilts - cos they had so many feathers).

After stopping for coffee and a comfort break in the island capital Kirkwall we carried on to Stromness where we had an hour and a half to explore and get some lunch before continuing on to the main item of the day Scara Brae. This stone age village was discovered in a remarkable state of preservation in 1850 when a violent storm stripped away the grass and sand that had kept it hidden for 5 thousand years. Skaill House, the home of the local laird on whose land Scara Brae was discovered is also open to the public and is also well worth a visit. Well back in the coach and on to the next item The Ring of Brodgar a 104m diameter stone circle thought originally to contain 60 stones only 27 now remain. Nearly leaving two passengers off we went again back to Kirkwall, this time to explore, we visited St Magnus Cathedral a most interesting building. Onward ever onward to our last visit of the day The Italian Chapel, built in two Nissen huts built in line by Italian POW’s it was the inspiration, skills and determination of one man - Domenico Chiocchetti. All that was left now was a return to the lonely landing stage and the ferry back to mainland Scotland. It was a long, tiring day but a fabulous introduction to a fascinating place that we hope to explore further one day.

Thursday 5th September 2013

Moving day today, we have left the north east and come south west to Onich. It was an amazing drive from the flatish arable and beef farmland of the far north to the mountainous  western highlands with everything in between. We are now camped on the banks of Loch Linnhe. We walked to the waters edge to watch a stunning sunset and were almost deafened by clicking cameras, but did I have mine? Of course not - still perhaps tomorrow evening (which fortunately happened).

The temperature has certainly dropped over the last couple of days, we had the heating on tonight, still that does mean midges will be less of a problem than they might have been.

Friday 6th September 2013

We awoke to a glorious day and being a sad couple elected to do the laundry - it may rain tomorrow! so as the sunshine dried the clothes we then went shopping. What a sad town Fort William seems to have become with the main shopping street having more empty shops then occupied ones and Boots, W H Smiths, Tesco Metro the only "visit every day" type, national chains present, the others are mainly small local shops that seem to be struggling to survive. On this occasion we cannot, it seems, blame Tesco, their Metro store on the high street is as depressing as all the others. This time we must blame Morrisons whose large store is next door to both bus and railway stations and car parks, what chance do the independents have??

Before settling down for the evening with our dinner (two huge Aberdeen Angus steaks, salad and a bottle of red) we went for a drive to Glencoe but turned off when we saw a sign to “Seafood Restaurant and Shop” following a twisty, turney road with fabulous views over Loch Leven we eventually reached The Lochleven Seafood Cafe. The shop was obviously shut being 6:30pm but the restaurant was open and looked good with a short but inviting menu at reasonable prices. We will return.

Sunday 11th August 2013

Today we moved north into Scotland to Edinburgh, a journey of just over 120 miles straight up the M6/A74M to junction 13 and then onto the pretty cross country tourist route the A702. All was going well until as we approached Edinburgh we missed the turnoff to the by-pass. Those of you who have been to this city at Fringe time (compounded by work on the tramway) will know taking a caravan through the city centre is shall we say “interesting”.

Having arrived at the Caravan Club Site and set up we set off for the city centre and the first of our twenty booked events - well David did, I would rather fill my ears with burning tar than endure the noise that is Mike Oldfields Tubular Bells. David came back enthused and excited having enjoyed every minute. On to the next event - Be Captivated, Ballet Central. This is not the sort of event that would normally float my boat but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. As you read earlier we went to twenty ticketed events plus a number of free events so those of you with a low boredom threshold can click here to by pass the blurb about them

We had travelled into the city centre by bus, a twenty minute walk to the bus stop and then a 45 minute £3 per person bus ride followed by another walk. Feeling tired on the way back we took a cab which worked out about twice the cost of the bus without the walking and took around 15 minutes door to door.

Monday 12th August 2013

As well as the tickited events there are hundreds of free events for which you simply turn up and sit down we attended a number of these and they ranged from the very good to the very bad. I havn't described any of these in this journal.

Three shows to see today, the first is not till 1.00pm so we elect to go into the city on the bus laid on by the camp site just £3 single or £5 return, unfortunately return busses must be pre-booked on the way out and the last one runs at 8.30 but our last event does not finish till 10.00pm. We arrived in the city and got dropped in a totally different place to that scheduled, “Oh! I’ve taken a wrong turn you’ll have to get out here” was the drivers only comment, leaving the return ticket holders with no clue as to where they caught the bus back.

The first show of the day “Best of the Fest” was what I imagined The Fringe to be. This was performers that had been awarded 4/5 stars by The Scotsman newspaper with different performers each day. Our performers consisted a magician, a poet and some stand-up comedians. Sadly despite being an all ages event the “F’ word was a frequent visitor and even the “C” word made an appearance, not it must be said by the stand-up comedians but by the poet, well he does come from Colchester in Essex so I suppose it must be expected. Across the city again to the next venue, and with around four hundred venues they are not all close together, for a performance of The Pirates of Penzance by Durham University Light Opera Group. This small group performed with great enthusiasm to make up for their lack of numbers - a good afternoon. Back across the city again for our final event of the day, dinner at Faulty Towers. Basil, Sible and Manuel kept us very well entertained almost, but not quite enough, to forgive the poor dinner, which, I suppose is to be expected when around 100 people are to be fed at the same time in a quite small restaurant.

Tuesday 13th August 2013.

A totally different event started our day today with a two hour walking tour entitled “A Tale of Two Cities” during which our guide Neil told us of the history etc., of the old Edinburgh of the 16th/17th century and the new Edinburgh of the 19th century. The guide was extremely  knowledgable and an entertaining speaker. Our second event today was a one hour theatre production entitled “The Sex lives of Others”. It was performed by a cast of four on a tiny stage, measuring about six square feet in the corner of a shipping container (yes you did read that right). The acting was pretty good particularly one of the cast but the play itself unremarkable. Onwards ever onwards, next another play - Darts Wives - a comedy take on the TV show “Footballers Wives” which told the story of four women whose husbands were, had been or wanted to be world darts champion. The four actresses played both wives and husbands - a very funny play. Directly that was finished it was rush across the city again for our next event entitled Fright or Flight. A very strange offering of acrobatics and comedy that cannot be described so I have included a link to their “youTube” offering.

Wednesday 14th August 2013

Our first event this morning was a monologue called Betty Davis Ain’t For Sissies - What happens when someone who always wants to win ....... loses!! A superb performance, one of the most polished and professional we have seen so far, excellent. Next in line for our attention was Taymar Broadbent (link)a comedy songwriter. I learned at this event that you should not sit in the front row of a Fringe show as I spent a not inconsiderable part of it on the stage, and a good show it was. This was our last Fringe event of the day as this evening we are at the Tattoo. With a capacity of 8500 the queue to get in starts to form around 6:00 pm for the 9:00 pm performance, this does have the effect of keeping thousands of people in one very long line and not wandering the already crowded streets, not being the queuing types we went to dinner in an excellent Kurdish restaurant. The meat on offer was lamb or chicken and the style was, probably, Turkish. All beer and wine on sale was non-alcoholic although it seemed that regulars were bringing alcoholic wine with them. At around 8:30 pm when the end of the queue passed the restaurant we joined it and less than fifteen minutes later were sitting in our seats waiting for what turned out to be a fantastic spectacle to start. Two hours of pomp and music from South America, South Korea, New Zealand and many other parts of the world culminated in a musical firework display.

Thursday 15th August 2013

Four events today, the first “West End at The Fringe” was a group of four who sang a selection of songs from current London shows. Then our most eagerly awaited production Wunderkammer described as “. . . a breathless cocktail of circus and cabaret. ‘White hot funny and sexy’ (Stage) . . . “. It was good, the performers were certainly skilled but each item went on to long, and why did every item end with the performer(s) getting most of their kit off after all mankinis are not the nicest item in the wardrobe. After dinner in a superb Italian restaurant it was off to the days third offering, the one I had least been looking forward to, a jazz quartet, now don’t get me wrong I like SOME jazz but what I believe is called modern jazz leaves me cold. This quartet, comprised Alex Yellowlees violin, Kenny Ellis double bass and Ged Brockie and Mike Nisbet guitars, described as intoxicating hot club jazz, was if fact very enjoyable. And so onto the last show of the day being X rated it didn’t start till 10:30 pm. Ivy Paige - “Head” Mistress unfortunately did not, for me, live up to it’s “funnyest class in Edinburgh” billing. I thought her accompanist whose  name I didn’t catch (but whose claim to fame was being a founder member of Dexys Midnight Runners) was a better singer and had far greater stage presence despite simply sitting at his keyboard for the whole performance.

Friday 16th August 2013

Five top rate shows to see today, unfortunately Sue is so ill, with a real and genuine man cold that she has spent the entire day without the energy to get out of bed let alone spend fifteen hours in the city centre, a great shame as Carol and David said todays shows were the pick of the week. Still I had a good day, in between looking after the sick I did the laundry.

The Fringe features 45,464 performances in 2,871 shows at 273 venues so there must be something for absolutely everyone. Would I do it again - in an instant, but only if staying in a city centre hotel.